WPPX
WPPX-TV, virtual channel 61 (UHF digital channel 31), is an Ion Television owned-and-operated television station serving Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States that is licensed to Wilmington, Delaware. The station is owned by Ion Media. WPPX's offices are located on Main Street in Bala Cynwyd, and its transmitter is located in the Roxborough section of Philadelphia. History History of channel 61 in Philadelphia The UHF channel 61 allocation in eastern Pennsylvania was originally assigned to Reading, Pennsylvania in the 1950s, when WHUM-TV occupied the channel as a CBS affiliate. The allocation was eventually reassigned to Wilmington after the Reading station went dark on September 4, 1956 after a lightning strike on the WHUM-TV tower severely damaged the station's antenna and waveguide. WPPX history The current station occupying channel 61, now licensed to Wilmington, Delaware, signed on the air as WTGI-TV on July 9, 1986, originally operating as a general entertainment independent station. It mostly broadcast programs that the established Philadelphia stations did not desire, including drama series, old movies, reruns of old game shows, religious shows, and some ABC network shows that WPVI-TV (channel 6) chose to pre-empt. Reruns of Dynasty were WTGI's most prominent program, as well as an attempt at a local newscast entitled Delaware Valley Tonight. In addition, the station was scheduled to broadcast Philadelphia Big 5 basketball, but that idea was dropped before the season started. A lack of cable system carriage (partly because of the news program) and a transmitter located away from the heart of the Philadelphia market left the station with minimal viewership and an inability to sell advertising time at a profit. When Vineland, New Jersey-based independent WSJT (channel 65, now Univision owned-and-operated station WUVP-DT) was sold to Home Shopping Network later that year, WTGI planned to acquire that station's programming inventory of mostly 1950s sitcoms. But after low sales and a larger loss of money than was thought, the station changed course abruptly. Various Spanish, religious and shopping channels were considered for affiliation. On November 24, 1986, all the entertainment shows were dropped and WTGI began carrying home shopping programming from the Video Shopping Channel about 18 hours a day. The station continued to run some rejected ABC shows and religious programs part of the day. In the fall of 1988, WTGI adopted an ethnic-based format airing Telemundo programming during the evening hours, a few hours a day of other foreign language programs, and religious shows (in English) for part of the day. In 1993, WTGI became an affiliate of the Trinity Broadcasting Network, which made an attempt to buy the station; however, this sale fell through. In 1995, the station was sold to Paxson Communications; it then became an affiliate of the company's all-infomercial service inTV, until becoming a charter affiliate of the Pax TV network on August 31, 1998, at which time it changed its call letters to WPPX. From 2001 to 2005, WPPX-TV rebroadcast some newscasts from NBC owned-and-operated station WCAU (channel 10). Category:Ion Television affiliated stations Category:Delaware Category:Pennsylvania Category:Channel 61 Category:Television channels and stations established in 1986 Category:Former independent stations Category:Former Telemundo affiliates Category:Former inTV affiliates Category:Former PAX Affiliates Category:Wilmington Category:Philadelphia Category:Ion Media Category:UHF Category:1986 Category:Ion Television Pennsylvania Category:New Jersey Category:Former NTA Film Network affiliates Category:Allentown/Reading/Bethlehem, PA Category:Television stations in New York Category:New York Category:New York City Category:Ion Television New York Category:Harrisburg Category:Lancaster Category:VHF Category:Former DuMont Affiliates Category:Princeton Category:Newark Category:1998 Category:2009 Category:Scranton Category:Wilkes-Barre Category:Atlantic City